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gombeen

[ gom-been ]

/ gɒmˈbin /

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noun Irish English.

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Origin of gombeen

1860–65; <Irish gaimbín interest, especially exorbitant interest, literally, bit, small piece, diminutive of gamba lump, hunk

Words nearby gombeen

golp, Golschmann, Goltz, GOM, Gombe, gombeen, gombeenism, gombeen-man, Gomberg, gombo, gombroon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use gombeen in a sentence

Gombeen man; a usurer who lends money to small farmers and others of like means, at ruinous interest.
English As We Speak It in Ireland|P. W. Joyce
For the name of this grisly and terribly real spectre is gombeen; which, in the Irish tongue, signifies usury.
Disturbed Ireland|Bernard H. Becker
This poor innocent was charging just 60 per cent., but his terms were lavishly liberal as compared with those of the gombeen man.
Disturbed Ireland|Bernard H. Becker
At Burtonport we found the “Gombeen man,” of Dungloe, represented by a very large “store.”
Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (1 of 2) (1888)|William Henry Hurlbert

The priest and the “Gombeen man” deal with them on the old principle of “freedom of contract.”
Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (1 of 2) (1888)|William Henry Hurlbert